| Subject: She's game for a new adventure |
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Date Posted: 17:54:38 05/04/10 Tue
After growing up around basketball, street hockey and kickboxing, Surrey's Poonam Punni is venturing into the world of pageants
Tom Zillich, Surrey Now
Published: Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Articulate and good-natured, Poonam Punni, 23, seems like an ideal contestant for Miss World Canada.
Poonam Punni is putting a spin on all of those "tomboy" activities of her past. She was a star basketball player at Tamanawis Secondary and grew up playing street hockey with her brothers and many other boys of the neighbourhoods where she has lived, in Newton and North Delta. She's also into kickboxing and running. But for the past couple of months, Punni has ventured into the world of Miss World Canada, and it's certainly not all fun and games.
"It's not like basketball or anything like that, because that's a team sport," she said, "but I'm using all the skills I've learned all those years."
There is a sense of teamwork in the pageant, which raises money for Variety - The Children's Charity and sees some contestants do so by co-hosting fundraising events at local bars and restaurants.
Thirty-three young women are in the game, so to speak, for a week of events that conclude with what promises to be a glitzy pageant Friday night (May 7) at Surrey's Chandos Pattison Auditorium.
Last November, Punni was bored one night when an internet search hit upon the Variety website. A few more clicks of her mouse and she found a link to the Miss World Canada pageant, something totally foreign to her.
"I've never trained for this," Punni told the Now. "It's not like what people think, that it's all girls who've been doing pageants since age nine. People tend to think it's a beauty pageant, but it's all about how a woman presents herself."
Yes, there is a swimsuit contest -- but it's optional, as is the talent contest. As of Friday, Punni wasn't so sure about donning a swimsuit for judges' eyes only, but was confident enough in her dancing abilities to get it done for the pageant talent show, held today (Tuesday) in Vancouver.
Articulate and good-natured, Punni, 23, seems like an ideal contestant for Miss World Canada, which sees 10 per cent of each woman's score based on her fundraising efforts for Variety. The charitable effort underlines the "beauty with a purpose" ideology spread by Julia Morley, U.K.-based president of the Miss World organization.
Contestants also score points by generating publicity for the pageant, which explains the press releases sent to local media outlets by Punni and others, including Britney Darmanin.
On Sunday evening, Darmanin, 22, hosted an "Eat, Drink & Give" fundraiser for Variety at Ocean Park Village Pub. It was the second such fundraiser she staged, following a bachelor/bachelorette auction event in Toronto, where she is studying radio and television arts. The total take from the two events is about $3,800, she said.
"It's probably going to sound cheesy to say," said Darmanin, a two-time Miss White Rock title holder, "but the events I've planned and people I've met along the way, the contacts I've made, it's been really worthwhile.... At this point, I'm almost at the 'whatever happens, happens' stage (with the pageant results). It's been really enjoyable."
Miss World Canada contestants include Surreyites Punni, Nicole Raj and Ritika Bhachu, along with Surrey-raised Darmanin and Sarah Davidson-Gurney of White Rock.
Friday's event in Surrey will also see 14 contestants vie for the Miss Teen Global crown in a pageant held simultaneously. Nineteen of the 47 hopefuls involved in both pageants hail from the Lower Mainland.
Contestants between age 17 and 25 vie for the Miss World Canada crown. The winner will travel abroad and represent Canada in the Miss World pageant in Vietnam this November. The title holder "will become a celebrity spokesperson, raise money for children's charities and will receive preparation in wardrobe, media and interview training to compete at Miss World 2010," organizers say.
© Surrey Now 2010
http://www2.canada.com/surreynow/news/story.html?id=1eebe702-6653-468e-9a44-410313249a2a
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